VMRO-DPMNE has sharpened its rhetoric against SDS leader Venko Filipče, accusing him of "slavishly courting Sofia" and offering constitutional amendments on a fast track - the third SDS leader in a row, they say, ready for national concessions. The translation in this rhetoric is plain: after Zaev and Kovačevski, Filipče is the next one being framed as a likely deal-maker with Bulgaria.

Party spokesman Valentin Manasievski came out hard: "Filipče is being served up like a kitten on a plate to Bulgaria and to Rumen Radev. He's dogmatically following Zaev's footsteps." A metaphor some will call overheated, others on point. Either way - it's political speech.

What VMRO concretely accuses Filipče of:

First, the absence of red lines. VMRO-DPMNE claims the new SDS leader is going to set no preconditions in the talks over constitutional amendments.

Second, positioning himself close to Sofia. Filipče congratulated the new Bulgarian government while - they argue - quietly walking back from Macedonia's official line on identity.

Third, hypocrisy on the EU path. VMRO accuses him of talking about European integration while simultaneously stalling the reform agenda.

Fourth, behaving as if he were already prime minister. The party criticises his style and his appetite for power, given that SDS is sitting in opposition.

All of this lands at a moment when Filipče has been leader for 100 days, when SDS is trying to recover from the catastrophe of the parliamentary elections, and when the opposition has to sell - again - the same product to a new generation of voters. Whether that works depends on a single thing: whether Filipče offers something different from Zaev, or just the same ideas in new packaging. So far, VMRO is only looking at the packaging. The citizen sees only the same loop that doesn't end.